1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a manual restart and stop control in the form of elongated switches for manually stopping and restarting automatically controlled vehicles.
2. State of the Prior Art
Various service vehicles have been provided with automatic control so that they are driven on a predetermined guide path in a programmed manner. In such vehicles, the guide paths, such as reflected guide lines or electrically detectable guide wires, are positioned on or in the floor. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,624 to Wesener, issued Dec. 23, 1971, a vehicle which follows a predetermined guide path has a control panel at the front end of the vehicle for presetting the reader to respond to code markings along the guide path.
An automatically controlled vehicle with a manual override is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,893, to Kohls, issued Jan. 26, 1971. In the Kohls vehicle, the manual override is a tiller which deactivates the automatic steering control, and automatic drive motor upon movement of the tiller from a vertical inoperative position to a horizontal operative position.
Automatic guidance systems for vehicles have been made to detect, track, and follow sensible lines marked on a floor surface. Further, guidance systems for vehicles have included sensors to detect coded signals marked on the floor surface for temporarily stopping the vehicle's progress for a given amount of time, after which the vehicle restarts and continues to follow the predetermined path.
At programmed stops, the vehicle stops for a given length of time. For example, in a mail delivery vehicle, the vehicle will stop at given locations in order to permit mail to be removed at the locations. The vehicle will remain at the location a sufficient time to permit removal of the mail or other articles aboard the vehicle. Normally, at the end of the stop period, an audible or visual signal will indicate that the vehicle is about to commence movement again along the preselected path.
Occasionally, the programmed stop may be insufficient to allow all mail or other articles to be removed from the vehicle. Therefore, it is desirable to maintain the vehicle at the station for a longer period of time. At other times, it may be desirable to stop the normal movement of the vehicle along the preselected path where no temporary stop is programmed to remove articles, for example. It is therefore desirable to have readily accessible switches to arrest the movement or to delay restarting of the vehicle at certain times. Such vehicles have heretofore been provided with front bumpers which have pressure sensitive switches incorporated therein. However, such bumpers are generally inadequate to stop the vehicle from the side under conditions where a stop switch must be activated in an emergency or quick action situation. Under such conditions, the act of locating and activating a switch may be quite difficult to do in the minimum amount of time allowed. Therefore, such a switch must not only be readily accessible but must be readily identifiable.
Vehicles which have emergency stop switches must also have a means to restart the vehicle or to recommence the programmed operation. In conventional types of start and stop controls, switches to perform such functions are frequently placed adjacent to one another. However, such positioning may result in the start switch being activated when the stop switch is desired in emergency types of situations. Thus, any start switches should be readily distinguishable from stop switches and should be positioned such that the start switch is not accidentally struck when the stop switch is desired.